Burning the Candles Bright
**If you know the name of those mentioned herein, I ask that you NOT discuss it online until those closest to them say otherwise.**As I write this, someone I adore is in the hospital. They suffered a stroke, and though breathing on their own, are not in very good shape.Right now, a candle with their name is burning on my devotional altar, set with ogham for health, and an image that evokes them in my mind.Candles have been taking up a piece of my consciousness as of late. Candles to hold space for ritual space. Candles for health. Candles for memory. Candles for ancestors.I have not historically been much of a candle magic person. That is Aiden. Candles with drawings on them, candles with oils mixed in, candles covered in glitter and paper, candles of many colors.But last night two candles burned on my ancestral altar, and one burned for the mighty dead. Today a pillar candle burns for the person in the hospital.Historically, I have also not been the person who works with ancestors. Who works with the dead. I have been a Page for the Gods, but the dead have not been my purvue... or anything Norse. But since January, when my Feri teacher told me to build an ancestral altar and start working with them... my world has been shifting. And I am not sure how comfortable I am with it. At PantheaCon, I attended the Circle of Bones (hosted by the Deathwalkers of the Unnamed Path), and felt/experienced one of the dead that that group works. Red haired and receeding hairline, flannel shirt... and when they did their debrief, I found out that my experience matched their description of him. I had asked them a question about someone who had passed, and the responses sent shivers down my spine and a gasp from those in the room.The world keeps shifting. Pieces of spirit that are new. It is challenging. Trying to learn new skills to keep it in check. I ask for aid from the leathermen who died, the leather hanky on my ancestral altar linking me to those who went, those who went in the plague.I burn the candles bright. I burn the incense with the smoke of my prayers.